


The one about assholes, love, and sharpies

by Merelina



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Abusive Parents, Friendship, Homophobia, Multi, Polyamory, Prideweek, polyamory phobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 21:42:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19385197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merelina/pseuds/Merelina
Summary: What happens when Steve and Bucky come across some young love and an asshole? Of course they step in. My contribution for HYBB Pridefest!





	The one about assholes, love, and sharpies

**Author's Note:**

> Some warnings on forehand: this is a story about asshole parenting and Steve and Bucky being the heroes they are. Also: they're in love so screw every movie that tells you otherwise. There will be some fantastic artwork coming from my friend Aromo soon!  
> And a big thanks to mom-Nicole for reading through my mess and bringing order aka betareading

It’s a perfect Sunday in the park, the sun is out, a little wind. It’s warm but not blistering hot. The sun gives everything in the green park just that bit of glow, it makes everyone smile just a little more, love just a little deeper, hold just a little dearer and relax just a little longer. 

Steve and Bucky are sitting on the grass catching their breath after their run. Not much is said, but the silence is golden. The kind of silence between two people that know each other through and through, where no words are needed. The sit, their legs stretched in front of them, leaning back on their elbows, Steve’s right hand, searches and finds Bucky’s left one and strokes it gently. 

Bucky smiles, his eyes closed at the soft touch. For someone so strong, Steve is surprisingly gentle. Well, at least to Bucky. On the battlefield? Not so much. But there were no thoughts of battles or being rough at the moment. To be honest, their thoughts were nowhere, as they were just revelling in being close to the other.

Suddenly a loud shout disrupted their silence. 

“There you are, son! You are coming with me THIS INSTANT and I will hear NO EXCUSES from you young man!” 

A man, somewhere at the end of his forties or beginning of his fifties stalks towards a trio sitting on a park bench. The man is looking like a soccer dad, ill-fitting jeans, sensible shoes with white socks underneath. A polo shirt completes the picture. A clean-shaven face, his hair short,and on top you can see balding patches. He looks the way any parent looks at his teenage son that hit puberty a little too hard. The kind of exasperated look that says now what have you done. The problem however, is that none of the three people on the bench look like a teen. They look to be in the final year of university if they haven’t already graduated. As the father steps closer with determined anger in his steps, the three get up together. They look uneasy, more like a little scared, as they hold hands together. One of them, obviously the one the father is here for, puffs up his chest in a brave attempt of defense. The others are standing on both sides, uneasy but defiant as well.

Steve and Bucky, both noticing the tension in the air immediately as the man approached, have pushed themselves up from the ground, waiting to see if they need interrupt.

“Father? What are you doing here?” A slight note of panic underlies the annoyance.  
“I am taking you home, son. Your mother is in tears, you have to apologize to her and..

“No” the youth says calmly, though anyone can see there’s nothing calm about his emotions at the moment.

The father shuts his mouth with an almost audible snap. 

“No? What do you mean no? No, you’re not apologizing or no, you’re not coming home?”

“Neither… Both.” a deep sigh and a pinch on the bridge of the nose. “I am not coming home to you and mom, where you’ll judge me and criticize me on everything I am and care about.”

Now it’s the father’s turn to sigh. He looks like he’s going to explode, but with a faux calm and danger in his eyes he replies “Listen son, your mother and I have been very patient with you so far, but..”

Again he is interrupted “Dad, I am not your son anymore, my name is Ellie and I would really appreciate it if you wouldn’t call me son anymore.” 

The father rolls his eyes at the name Ellie “but besides this, you and mom have never been patient with me about my love for..”

“Oh stop it! You cannot love two people the same way! That what you have is ridiculous! Do you honestly believe that girl and boy behind you love you?” another eyeroll and a disbelieving snort.

“Puhlease.” He turns to the two people behind Ellie, “I don’t know what you did to my Daniel, but I blame…”

“Ellie. It’s Ellie dad, and they didn’t do anything to me, but love me. They helped me through a lot of your bullshit.” Ellie swallows and angrily wipes a tear away. “I… I need you to leave. Now.

I’m… I’m not going home with you. I live here with Jamie and Darren now, and you can’t change my mind.” The father looks shocked for a moment, before sucking in air, and pointing his finger to Ellie.

“YOU ARE COMING HOME WITH ME NOW. YOU ARE MY SON, AND EVEN IF I HAVE TO DRAG YOU, YOU’RE COMING WITH ME RIGHT NOW!”

Steve and Bucky share half a look at each other, both already on their feet and stepping forward. This needs to stop.

The father grabs Ellie’s arm and starts to pull her away. The two people behind her immediately jump to her aid and a pushing, pulling, crying screaming bundle of people is the result. Steve and Bucky close the distance between them and the 4 fighting people fast. Suddenly the father shouts in rage “You’re such a big fan of Captain America, what do you think he would say about you and your ‘friends’?” he almost spits the words at them.

Steve’s booming captain’s voice, the one he only uses in battle, answers the father. “What would I say about what?” It sounds even, curious perhaps. But Bucky knows him, better than himself even. And he knows Steve isn’t curious at all, Steve is 6’2” of angry muscles that will not just bark, but will also bite really damn hard if he has to. 

Bucky is not far behind, as always besides Steve. His eyes find the father and he stares at him, with every bit of winter soldier he can find within himself. 

The pulling-pushing stops immediately and everyone stares at Steve and Bucky. The father retakes himself the first with a confused “What?”

Steve directs his attention to him, his eyes cold. “I said, What would I say about what?”

A smirk spreads over the father’s face, he thinks he’s won the fight. Here is his son’s hero and he’s going to tell him everything he just screamed at his father is silly and wrong. America’s poster boy will set him straight! Oh how wrong he is… “This young man is my son, mr captain America sir. And he has been rude to his parents, he also thinks he is in a relationship with not just this girl here, but also with this boy. Can you imagine?” He laughs derisively, nodding triumphantly at Ellie.

Steve looks like he’s about to burst, so Bucky takes steps forward, giving Steve time to calm down enough not to punch the man to next week, or up a tree, whichever comes first. Bucky turns to the three shaken people to his right. 

“So let me get this straight,” he points to Ellie “you have a relationship with these two people?”  
Ellie, nods uncertain, looking worried from Steve to Bucky to her father. Bucky now points at Darren “and your father here, doesn’t like that?”

Darren shakes his head “that’s not my father, that’s Ellie’s father. Unfortunately.”

Bucky raises an eyebrow “Huh? Now I’m lost. This guy keeps talking about his son, and then points at Ellie, is your name?” She nods “Is your father alright? Is he perhaps becoming demented and is he mistaking you for your brother?”

The father opens his mouth, ready to set the record straight, when Steve silences him with one look. “You know when we were born, people got killed for loving the wrong person. A white woman loving a black man? Someone got killed, if not both of them. A man loving a man, both were killed. A woman loving a woman? Both got killed. It was… hard back then.” a smile that does not reach his eyes.  
“You know, I had really hoped we moved on from that, but here we are.”

He looks at the father, “You want to know what I would say about this?”

The father nods, concern on his face, uncertain of where this is going.

Steve turns to the trio on his right. “Do you three have a good relationship? Do you make each other happy?”

They nod in unison, and Ellie adds softly “they make me feel safe” and two hands appear on her shoulders. Steve smiles at them, seeing the obvious love in that simple gesture. He looks back at the father. 

“I think you as a father should love your child unconditionally. As a parent you have a duty to always be there for your child, even when they disagree with you. Nothing should stop you from loving your child, least of all love itself! If my single mother could raise me, a bisexual sickly boy in the dark times of the depression with all the love and care in the world, why can’t you do the same today?”

The silence that follows is deafening, it’s almost as even the birds know to keep quiet. Steve points his finger to the father until it pokes his chest. 

“If you can’t love your daughter the way she is, you have no reason to call yourself her father. She has asked you to leave, and if that is still her wish, you should leave.” 

Everyone turns to Ellie at this point, who, looks at Steve open mouthed. She quickly shuts her mouth, and clears her throat. “That is still my wish yes. Please dad, I… “ But before she can finish her sentence her father turns around. 

“You’re dead to me, son” he sneers over his shoulder, emphasizing the last word, as he walks off. His head is bowed, defeated. It’s never easy to lose a child, even if you were the cause.

For a few seconds all that is heard are the gentle sound of the birds in the trees, then a small sob comes from Ellie’s throat. Darren and Jamie immediately hold her close, leaving Bucky and Steve looking to this show of affection. 

Suddenly Bucky starts to giggle, getting an alarmed look from Steve and three surprised faces looking at him. He slaps a hand to his mouth. “Sorry. I just… sorry I saw your t-shirt. Oh god, I’m sorry it’s highly inappropriate, and I’m not laughing at what just happened, but jesus I love that shirt.”

All three have the same text on a rainbow coloured shirt: 

‘What if Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes have a relationship?’

A watery smile breaks through the tears on Ellie’s face. “Do you like it? I’m sorry if it’s… I don’t know..” her voice trails off, uncertain.

Bucky and Steve share a look. A look that asks “should we..?” and a look that answers “yes we should”

Bucky turns his head back “well, let’s”

“No wait!” Steve interrupts him, “does anyone have a sharpie?” a sharpie is found a nearby vendor and Steve uncaps it with a grin that spells mischief. A look Bucky finds irresistible, always has found irresistible. Whatever he was going to do with that sharpie, it was going to be gold, Bucky was sure.

Steve takes the sharpie to the T-shirts, and a few scribbling noises and some giggling on Steve’s part later, Steve stands back, looking proudly at his handiwork.

The words “what if” as well as the question mark at the end are now crossed out with sharpie, so now it reads “Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes have a relationship”

Bucky nods in approval. “Good editing captain Rogers” he comments, his hand stroking his beard, as if he’s contemplating a great work of art.

“Truly marvelous, old chap” Steve joins in with a fake old British accent. Ellie looks down at her shirt and then looks up grinning wide, her tears drying on her face by now.

Darren and Jamie are grinning widely as they both exclaim “do mine, do mine!”

Bucky grabs another sharpie and with his lower lip between his teeth he sets to work on Darren’s shirt, while Steve does the same on Jamie’s shirt. As they both proudly step back to admire their work, Ellie takes out her phone. “Can we… I don’t know, take a picture? Or is that not okay?” she asks, suddenly looking like a scared high-schooler.

“Absolutely!” Steve and Bucky reply at the same time, stepping forward.

The vendor near them takes the picture, and Ellie puts it on her Insta. In no time, the picture is all over the internet, giving the Avenger press department a mild aneurysm.

Ellie’s life, though not easy, became better, with people around her that accepted and loved her. The relationship with her parents will always be a strained one, with times where there was no contact at all. She thankfully found friends in Steve and Bucky, and they have a movie night every month.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is sad story mixed with a fun story and has a little personal story in it as well. My mother didn’t like my choice of partner very much, and it really made the relationship between me and my mom difficult and strained. It’s never easy to have this kind of relationship with your parents. It truly is as Steve says: a parent should love their child unconditionally. The end of this fic makes it maybe seem like it’s all fun and games after a little bit of crying. I know damn well it isn’t like that. These things take time to heal, whether you get back in contact with your parents or not. I know it took me years to come to grips with it, and then some more years to reconnect with my mother. It took a lot of tears, sleepless nights, therapy and many, many hard and deep conversations with the people around me and my mother as well, before I was okay again.  
> For anyone out there that needs someone to talk to or just a friendly arm around your shoulder, hit me up on Tumblr (ruinerofcheese).


End file.
